Story

Titan’s Story

(Warning: The following story contains graphic content.)

In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey was headed for Texas. With winds topping 130 miles per hour and its accompanying catastrophic rainfall, it would become the costliest tropical cyclone on record ($125 billion in damages), tied with Hurricane Katrina. At its peak, two feet of rain fell in 24 hours.

On the morning of Monday, August 28, 2017, Tall Tails Animal Rescue sent out a message on social media: “Save the fur-babies!” More than 10 cats and dogs in kennels were at risk of drowning after a nearby levee overflowed, flooding the animal rescue shelter located in Hankamer, TX. Dogs were trying to escape the water, climbing the kennel fences or perching on floating crates. Among those animals was Titan, a pit bull who had been at the shelter for some time.

Titan had a rough go of it even before Harvey. He was brought to the shelter when he was about 6 months old, after being found tied to a pole and missing part of his back right leg. It appeared that something had been around his leg for some time, cutting into his skin. In order to free himself, Titan had chewed his leg off. Titan had been nursed him back to health, but now he, along with a hundred other animals, was facing quickly rising waters with no way to get out.

Several neighbors as well as the Chambers County Sheriffs Office responded to the call for help by bringing their boats to ferry the animals to safety. The rescuers were able to transport 100 dogs to a nearby field, where they waited in crates with little shelter and no supplies. Emergency crews forcibly removed rescuers from the property when they deemed it too unsafe to continue. The remaining animals were turned lose in hopes they would make it to higher ground and survive the night.

After two days and nights of exposure, with no water or food or any other supplies, things were looking bleak for the animals, when a transport truck from Dallas Dog RRR arrived after 20 hours of driving and “every road block and worst weather condition known to man.”

Nearly all the animals were transferred to shelters in Dallas, Austin, and elsewhere, including the remaining ones that had originally been left behind and miraculously survived.

Titan’s Happy Ending

Titan eventually made his way to a shelter in Kansas City, Missouri, where a foster family fell in love with and adopted him. Today, Titan, the three-legged pit bull and Hurricane Harvey survivor, only visits the vet for nail trims and the occasional dental checkup. He loves to run and play and can hold his own against his fur siblings. He is truly a survivor.